Coach: Jackson knows move was ‘stupid’
LSU certainly wasn’t without mistakes in last week’s 30-10 victory over Tennessee, but the Tigers did come within one emotional outburst of their first penalty-free game in 44 years.
But the one flag was a biggie — and totally needless, according to head coach Ed Orgeron.
It came early in the fourth quarter with Tennessee in the LSU red zone for the first time at the LSU 20.
The Tigers forced an incompletion on second-and-16, but cornerback Donte Jackson was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, setting the Vols up with a first down at the 11
At first Jones merely wagged his index finger at the Tennessee student section behind the end zone. But he then drew the flag when he went on to use another finger for an obscene gesture commonly referred to as “flipping off.”
“We had a stupid penalty,” Orgeron said. “And Donte knows it.”
It didn’t affect the scoreboard — LSU eventually held on a fourth-down play to turn back the Vols.
But Orgeron wasn’t happy about it.
“I had a meeting with him (Jackson),” Orgeron said Monday.
Orgeron said Jackson told him, “Coach, I lost my emotions. I apologize. We talk about things to correct, but that’s fine.”
Whatever punishment Jackson will receive is between him and his coach, Orgeron said, but it won’t affect his status for Saturday night’s final regular season game against Texas A&M in Tiger Stadium.
As it was, it was the first time LSU had only one penalty in a game since 1979 against Ole Miss. The last penalty free game was in 1973.
“That’s terrific,” Orgeron said, perhaps remembering that over the season’s first three games the Tigers averaged 10 penalties per game for 105 yards per game.
“We still have a lot of mistakes to correct,” he said.
The sore spot from the Tennessee win was the secondary.
Jackson, who’s been one of LSU’s best defensive backs, was also burned on back-to-back long passes for Tennessee’s only touchdown.
The Tigers held Tennessee to just 38 yards rushing — the lowest total on an opponent’s home field since holding Alabama to just 20 in the national champioship year of 2007.
And the Tigers continued to struggle with screen and swing passes out of the backfield.
“Obviously, it was raining and it was cold and it was wet, but we had some coverages that we busted,” Orgeron said. “We had some one-on-ones that we didn’t play very well.
“Some things occurred that were uncharacteristic of our defensive backfield.”
He noted that the secondary was excellent against what, on paper, was a much better Ole Miss passing attack.
“Those things need to get fixed this week,” Orgerons said. “Texas A&M has some great wide receivers.
“I think you’re going to see a fired-up (secondary coach) Corey Raymond this week and a defensive backfield that’s going to be working hard on the things they messed up.”
{{tncms-inline content=”<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>SPECIAL TIGER:</strong></span><span class="s1"><strong>&nbsp; </strong></span><span class="s1">LSU punter Zach Von Rosenberg was named the SEC special teams player of the week after his kicks had a big effect on the Tigers&rsquo; victory over Tennessee Saturday. Two were fumbled and recovered by the Tigers to set up 10 points &mdash; the &ldquo;difference in the game,&rdquo; head coach Ed Orgeron said &mdash; and three others were downed inside the 20-yard line. Among them was a career-best 60-yarder that was downed at the 4-yard line and, after a UT three-and-out, led to LSU extending its lead to 17-3.&nbsp; Von Rosenberg. He averaged 49.2 yards on five punts. Von Rosenberg, a 27-year-old freshman who spent several years in a pro baseball career before giving football a try, pitched Barbe to the state championship as a freshman before moving to Zachary where he was the winning pitcher on three more state championships.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1"><strong>WOUNDED TIGERS:</strong></span><span class="s1">Orgeron did not sound optimistic that LSU would get&nbsp; back either of the stars who missed the Tennessee game &mdash; rush linebacker Arden Key and inside linebacker Donnie Alexander. &ldquo;Questionable,&rdquo; Orgeron said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know yet if they&rsquo;re going to practice (Tuesday) yet. Maybe. We&rsquo;re going to see how they progress.&rdquo;&nbsp; But Orgeron said quarterback Danny Etling was fine, even though his hand was being iced after the Tennessee game.&nbsp; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s fine, he&rsquo;s all right ,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;A little bruise on it. He&rsquo;s good.&rdquo; Also, Orgeron thinks OT K.J. Malone will likely miss another game, although the senior later said he wanted to at least dress out for his final game in Tiger Stadium.&rdquo;</span></p>” id=”659ca735-128c-4246-a9ba-22be9dcbc321″ style-type=”info” title=”LSU Tid Bits ” type=”relcontent”}}
SPECIAL TIGER: LSU punter Zach Von Rosenberg was named the SEC special teams player of the week after his kicks had a big effect on the Tigers’ victory over Tennessee Saturday. Two were fumbled and recovered by the Tigers to set up 10 points — the “difference in the game,” head coach Ed Orgeron said — and three others were downed inside the 20-yard line. Among them was a career-best 60-yarder that was downed at the 4-yard line and, after a UT three-and-out, led to LSU extending its lead to 17-3. Von Rosenberg. He averaged 49.2 yards on five punts. Von Rosenberg, a 27-year-old freshman who spent several years in a pro baseball career before giving football a try, pitched Barbe to the state championship as a freshman before moving to Zachary where he was the winning pitcher on three more state championships.
WOUNDED TIGERS:Orgeron did not sound optimistic that LSU would get back either of the stars who missed the Tennessee game — rush linebacker Arden Key and inside linebacker Donnie Alexander. “Questionable,” Orgeron said. “I don’t know yet if they’re going to practice (Tuesday) yet. Maybe. We’re going to see how they progress.” But Orgeron said quarterback Danny Etling was fine, even though his hand was being iced after the Tennessee game. “He’s fine, he’s all right ,” the coach said. “A little bruise on it. He’s good.” Also, Orgeron thinks OT K.J. Malone will likely miss another game, although the senior later said he wanted to at least dress out for his final game in Tiger Stadium.”
